I Saw You Just Then
by TheGreatLyagushka
Summary: Marinette was staring at the back of Adrien's head again. The blonde waves glinted like gold in the weak ligh has released her identity mid-battle due to her going beyond her limits. After Cat Noir discovers who Ladybug really is, he keeps his secret. Was Noir really the only one who found out? Hawkmoth must have found out as well as Marionette's family becomes the akuma's targets.
1. Chapter 1

Marinette was staring at the back of Adrien's head again. The blonde waves glinted like gold in the weak light filtering in the windows of the classroom. She sighed quietly and looked out. Cloudy, grey, cold, drizzly. Felt a lot like her current mood. She was exhausted. Hawkmoth had released three akumas, and fighting Sightseer, KidCrush and The SpeedDemon were vicious enough, without running out of juice midbattle and nearly transforming in front of Noir. By the grace of some helpful god, she managed to hurl herself through a window and duck quickly enough that the cat hadn't caught sight of her. It had taken close to thirty minutes to find a food source for Tikki, as they were in the middle of the industrial district and said neighborhood was not known for it's fine cuisine or plethora of restaurants. She ended up sprinting halfway across town and slamming headfirst into her family's bakery doors. She fished out her key, dropped it twice then slipped in, ducking behind the counter to avoid her mother seeing her during her usual two a.m. sneak snack (at least that's her father referred to it as).

"Marinette! Are you paying attention?" the teacher's sharp screech of a voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Er….Yes!"

"Pay attention. I will send you to the principal if you keep this up."

"Yes mam."

She shot a look at Chloe when she giggled loudly, adding in a carrying whisper that she was probably daydreaming about being just like her. "Think I'd rather swallow all the broken glass in Paris then be anything like that brat." she muttered to Alya.

Without warning, the entire building shook violently. The entire class let out a collective yelp and they all dove under the desks, looking to each other for any clue as to what was going on. Marinette already knew, and she felt dread settle into her stomach. There was no way her tired body and exhausted mind could cope with the stress of being Ladybug today. It put heavy strain on her and in her condition, she might just flop to the ground and immediately change back. But she still had to go. Paris and it's citizens were under her protection and she couldn't just let Chat Noir handle the fiasco on his own. That was the thought that sent her sprinting to the washroom to transform. "Tikki, spots on!"

She staggered from the washroom and landed herself on the roof, being met by a very enthusiastic Chat Noir. "Hey LB, worried you weren't gonna show!"

Marinette forced a smile and a sharp retort. "Well, I know you can't do it on your own!"

"It's the power of our love that keeps this cat going strong m'lady!"

"Y-yeah, I'm sure." that was sad. She couldn't even muster objection to his flirts right now.

Breaking the conversation off, she leapt nimbly to the next roof then the next, her tired muscles screaming in protest the entire way. Today, Chat kept up with her easily, which she took as a sign of being utterly tired out.

They found the akuma quickly. A towering, hulk of a monster with broad shoulders and the ability to control electricity. Chat, take his left side and I'l-" she couldn't finish. With a small groan, she fell to the ground, her breath coming in harsh pants. "T-Tikki….what…." her miraculous began to beep shrilly and before she could hoist herself from the ground, all of the power slipped away, leaving her disguiseless and, after a moment, unconscious. `

Chat Noir yelled for Ladybug as she slipped to the ground, clutching herself tightly. "Ladybug! Are you okay?! Ladybug!" he raced to her side, but was stopped dead when her miraculous gave out and revealed her identity to him. "M...Marinette? You're…."

Marinette woke up with every muscle in her body screaming. She felt like she had just run a thousand miles and she had the sweat covering her to prove it. She moaned weakly and rolled over, regretting it immediately. Her body gave a sharp twinge in protest and the only thing she found herself thankful for was that whatever she was lying on was soft and warm. "Tikki?" she grumbled, cracking open an eye slowly. Why did the sun have to be so bright? She rolled away from it and covered her face, shocked to find that she was running a mighty fever. "Tikki, what happened?"

"Marinette! You're awake!"

"Sadly…"

"How do you feel?"

How did she feel? Like death warmed over, warmed over. Like how the bottom of a well used public bin must feel. Terrible, in other words.

"I'm okay."

"That's such a relief! I was super worried!"

"Did….Chat see m-"

The hatch to her room clicked softly and Tikki went scrambling to hide. Oh...I'm in my room, is all Marinette could register before her mother's worried head poked into the room. "Marinette! You're up! How are you feeling? Do you still have a fever?" She's so worried….Marinette smiled guiltily and shook her head. "I'm fine ma. Don't worry so much."

"That's good. I brought some medicine up for you, I want you to take it, alright?"

"Okay mom. I will." She reached out for the cup, tossing back the chalky liquid inside with a grimace. "Ugh…" she mumbled, rubbing her tongue over the roof of her mouth to get the bitter taste off of it. "Rest well. I love you."

It took around 15 minutes for the medicine to kick in, and she rested her head on the pillow, stretching and yawning, feeling blissfully light. She heard a soft thump outside her window, but was far too sleepy to hazard a glance. "Marinette…" that was Chat Noir, wasn't it? She slipped a tiny bit more, and the next few moments came to her in flashes. Chat pushing his forehead against hers, taking her hand and placing it on his chest over his heart, then moving it to his face to nuzzle her, then kissing each of the slender fingers, then dropping countless kisses on her flushed cheeks and forehead and eyes. Him brushing her hair from her face then gently kissing her temple. "Sleep well bug-a-boo." he whispered before slipping out the window and disappearing into the night.

 _Adrien's POV_

The shock took a while to set in. Ladybug, his precious Bug-a-boo was actually Marinette. He felt no disappointment at the thought, in fact, the only feeling was a wave of relief. He was falling for Marinette, and slowly inching away from Ladybug, because he couldn't bring himself to want something he probably could never have. But, Marinette had been her all along? He was surprised he hadn't noticed all along once the mask came off. They shared the blue black hair falling carelessly over the eyes, the beautiful bluebell eyes that seemed to suck all the light surrounding them into their depths. The sweet smile, the slender body and height. Everything was the same. But, he had just thought that blushing, stuttering, awkward Marinette couldn't be strong, fearless Ladybug. He shook his hair from his eyes as his miraculous gave out and quickly climbed through his window. He looked around his room, eyeing the various pictures of LB that he had pinned to several areas. He sighed and flung himself onto the bed. His head ached, but he could feel joy spiraling up from the pit of his stomach. No more long nights comparing the two, no more lamenting the fact that he didn't know Ladybug. He was free from that horrible torture. He grinned and shoved Plagg aside, burying his face into his pillow and laughing. Thank god.

He poked his head up at the sudden thought that occurred to him. Was he going to tell Marinette his identity? He probably should, to square things between them, but...did he really want Chat Noir and Ladybug's dynamic to change? He thought back to the teasing, the playful banter and complete comfort between them. Could he really risk that? He shook his head. No, he couldn't. Not yet, at least.

Hawkmoth grinned in the darkness of his lair. Ladybug was Marinette Dupan-Cheng, an ordinary highschooler, and one associated with Chat Noir. He called an Akuma to him, stroking it's silky wing softly. "Go, my little Akuma, and destroy everything she loves."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! TGL here! I'm sorry, I'm a terrible person, life, blah blah. I'm gonna try super hard to be more consistent in posting. I've just been in an enormous slump until recently, like hospitalized slump. But fear not! I'm back to writing.**

Marinette dreamed of a deep purple fog enveloping everything she knew. It swallowed her friends, her family, Adrien, even Chloe and kept eating, devouring the eiffel tower, devouring the entirety of the city she had grown up in and loved, and then closed in on her. She screamed, but the panic in her voice was swallowed up by the the thick soupyness of the horrid fog. "Cat! Help!" she howled, trembling. He just stood to the side, a shadow occupying the space next to him. Then he and Cat were both moving in and she-

Marinette shot straight up in bed, her hair stuck to her clammy face. "Tiki? You here?" she squeaked, looking around for her little kwami.

"Yes Marinette. Are you alright?"

"Yeah….yeah, I'm fine." she blew out a mouthful of air and closed her eyes. Just a dream, caused by her fever most likely. Her eyes shot open. "Tiki, did anyone see me? Did they see me change?"

"I...didn't see anyone that saw Marinette." Tiki replied, grinning somewhat guiltily.

Marinette looked at her out of the corner of her eye and shook her head. "Okay…"

She got carefully out of bed, completely ready to have jelly legs and collapse immediately. She was actually surprised when she didn't. "I think I got that fever out of my system. Good, can't miss anymore school." she grinned and got ready, sprinting out the door about ten minutes late after arguing with her mom about her capability of going to class. .She won out in the end and slipped in unnoticed, a first. She pulled out her notebook and caught a look from Adrien. He smiled brightly and looked almost...adoringly? at her. She flushed and smiled back, giving him a nervous wave. "Ah, so nice of you to join us, Marinette." she started and laughed anxiously. "H-hello!" Chloe snickered behind her hand, and class went on normally. Finally, lunch rolled around, breaking the monotony of classes. Marinette smiled at Alya and began to ask if she wanted to eat in the usual spot, when she was interrupted by Adrien. "H-hey Marinette, I was wondering if you wanted to eat with me?" Marinette froze, face pulled into a vapid smile, and allowed Alya to respond for her. "Um, duh. Of course." she shoved her forward, winking at her happily. They wandered aimlessly to the courtyard, and sat at one of the benches, not saying much. It was Marinette who finally broke the silence: "So, uhm, hahaha, did you need to talk about something?" she stuttered, flushing deeply.

"Talk?" he hesitated. Was he going to tell her or not? He should. He really should and he was going to, because that was the right thing to do. They could watch each other so much more closely if she knew. "Uh….yeah. Listen, if I told you a secret, would you keep it?"

"A secret?"

"Yeah. Like a big one."

"Yeah, I would."

"You have to tell me one too, though."

Marinette frowned and looked puzzled, tipping her head to the side. "Okay? Like what kind of secret would you want to know?"

"You'll know the second I tell you mine. Trust me." he took a deep breath. "Okay….what would you say if I told you I was Cat Noir?" he looked her dead in the eye to show he was serious.

"What?" she replied dumbly, staring at him like he was an idiot.

"I'm Cat Noir." he repeated slowly.

"That's funny Adrien. But you're so much cooler than him!" she laughed nervously while her mind screamed NO NO NO ABSOLUTELY NOT.

"Do you want to see my kwami?" he tilted his head, knowing the jargon would get her right away.

"Oh my god… you…..?" Marinette floundered for words weakly, staring at Adrien. HE was Cat? Dear god, now that he said that, she was embarrassed she hadn't noticed the similarities. But why tell her….unless he knew?

"I saw you change back." he said, seeming to read her mind easily.

"Oh…" she managed.

Marinette's mother peeked out of the window in the bakery, eying the sky nervously. "Looks like rain…" she mumbled, spotting a black butterfly fluttering by. She gasped audibly, closing the blinds right away. Bad luck. "A little help with the bread honey?" her husband called from the back, walking into view, heaving two huge baskets of bread in his strong arms. "Ah! Of course! Put one down, you'll hurt yourself!" He grinned boyishly and handed her one, making sure she had it firmly before letting go. "These look gre-" she didn't finish. She flew forward, feeling a huge weight on her back. Her husband followed soon after, landing hard on his side and spilling the bread everywhere. As they both lay there, a sleek man stepped in, commanding a small troupe of bodyguards. "Pick them both up. Be kind to our guests and make sure they're comfortable." he grinned, straightening his tie before turning on his heel and following his cronies out of the little shop.

No one seemed to notice the fact that the two were being taken. They were far more preoccupied with the new Akuma ravaging the city mercilessly


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette's head spun rapidly, cold sweat popping up on her brow. "Oh…" that was all she could manage to get out of her right now. Adrien smiled happily, grabbing her hand gently. "I.." was glad? Yeah, he was. But that was painfully rude. "Was surprised I didn't notice. Bugaboo, you're really good at hiding things when you want!" He chuckled dryly.

Marinette's head snapped up. The smooth rolling and measured arrogance in his voice belonged solely to Cat. No denying it now, Cat had literally just spoke to her. She examined his face closely, heart fluttering. His grass green eyes were the same shade as the ones that peered at her from behind Cat's mask. The now smooth blonde hair could be easily mussed and change from carefully styled to wild and messy. She let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. Suddenly, the terrible awkwardness that had always permeated their encounters melted, and she was Ladybug, and he was Cat. And they hadn't changed. She smiled, feeling Ladybug taking the wheel for her. "Well, Cat, you know m-" she was cut off by screams from inside the school. "Huh?" they both snapped into action.

"Tiki, spots on!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

Adrien didn't remember much of the fight. His eyes were trained solely on Marinette. He had to remember to ask her if she had taken gymnastics at any point. The only bits he remembered clearly were Ladybug barking orders to him: "Cat, take her left!", "Cat, get ready!"

"Time to de-evilize!" Marinette cried cheerfully upon destroying the Akuma's vessel. She slung her charm and caught the little black butterfly easily, waving it off as a newly cleansed one fluttered away.

They fist bumped, grinning like idiots at each other. "Well, M'lady. I had better get going."

"Right. Don't have much time left either." Adrien bowed to her and took off to the left, while she flew to the right.

Marinette found a safe place and hid to wait out her transformation, stepping out innocently once she was herself again. She headed towards home, craving some of her father's bread. She hummed quietly to herself, smiling absently as Tiki slept soundly in her bag.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" she called through the door, stopping dead when she saw the fresh bread scattered over the floor. "What? Mom! Are you okay? Dad?" she searched the house and bakery quickly, beginning to panic when she couldn't find them anywhere. "MOM! DAD!" she shouted, voice cracking

She almost missed the letter placed neatly on the stove, would have if she hadn't bumped hard into it while running the house shouting.

"You know what I want Ladybug. From you and Cat Noir. -Hawkmoth"


	4. Chapter 4

Adrien had just begun stuffing his dinner into his mouth when his phone tinkled merrily from his pocket. He sighed quietly and pulled it out, expecting one of Chloe's emoticon packed rants. Instead, he had a new text from a number he didn't recognize. He opened it curiously, nearly dropping it into his soup. "We need to meet. Now.3rd street, the corner near my house- Marinette."

He flushed deeply, looking around for any of the constant flow of people employed by his father, grateful to see none of them hovering. Marinette, no Ladybug, wanted to see him! He ate his meal at record speed, grabbed his coat and Plagg, and sprinted out the door. He wasn't sure if his feet touched the ground at any point during his run there, but he wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't.

When he arrived, breathless, pink cheeked and huffing, to the corner, he saw Marinette's shape pacing nervously around a streetlamp. "Marinette!" he called warmly, grinning.

"Adrien!" she half sobbed, stopping the blonde in his tracks. That didn't sound like a "I'm glad to see you, Cat. Now, let's get married and move to the bahamas." not at all.

"Marinette, wha….what's wrong?"

"Hawkmoth. My parents. Note, there was bread on the floor andIdon'tknowwhatisgoingon-"

"Wait! Wait, slow down. Take a breath and talk to me." he said emphatically, shrugging off his coat the second he noticed she was shivering from the cold and without one. He wrapped it around her shoulders and took her hand gently.

"Hawkmoth. I think he took my p-p-parents!" she choked weakly "he must've seen me change back! He knows who I am now Adrien!"

"Well, let's go get them back."

"Where are they?" she asked pointedly, looking sadly at her hands.

"..." How the hell should he know? He glanced up, thinking hard. Hawkmoth would be...somewhere high. Somewhere dark, but open. He couldn't send akumas out if it wasn't open.

"There's….an observatory. It's near my place." he explained his rationalization when Marinette looked at him questioningly. Her blue eyes brightened, and she let out a little "oh" when he finished. "Yeah! That's brilliant!" she cried cheerfully, clapping her hands loudly in the now dark. Adrien frowned, seeing her struggle this hard to put up a brave front hurt him on a spiritual level. He felt a huge surge of rage. Hawkmoth wouldn't get away with this. He hurt Marinette's parents, and, by extension, Marinette herself. "Shall we M'lady?" they both changed and headed towards the observatory near Adrien's, were almost there when a cool voice stopped them. "Lady Wifi is here to stop you both!"

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other weakly, as if asking "do YOU know why she's here?" both shook their heads upon making eye contact. As the looked back, they saw not just Lady Wifi standing proudly, blocking their path, but at least half the akumatized victims lurking nearby. The Evillustrator, Princess Fragrance, The Pharaoh, and Rogercop, just to name a few. Cat felt Ladybug tighten next to him, and slowly breathe "how?" before awkwardly slipping into a fighting stance.

"Doesn't matter how, just matters that we take care of it and finish this soon." Cat replied, somehow keeping his voice even. All of them, ALONE, had nearly done the both of them in, forget about taking ten odd on at the same time.

Lady Wifi grinned sardonically "I doubt that you will Cat Noir. You see, we aren't just here to block you, we're here to take your miraculous! If that happens, you can be sure that Marinette will NEVER, EVER see her parents again."


	5. Chapter 5

Ladybug gasped and looked slowly between the victims. "Please, Alya, please! I know you're in there, Hawkmoth has my parents. Alya, he might k-k-k." she had to stop and gasp for air, trying to keep in a loud sob.

"Keep blabbering Ladybug. It'll just make it easier to get those earrings." Lady Wifi howled, flinging herself at Marinette.

"Alya, STOP!" she screamed loudly, and without thinking, she threw her lucky charm straight at her. Lady Wifi seemed to freeze midair, and looked blankly down at her chest. "You...hit me." she said hollowly, staring in shock at the large hole that the Lucky charm had made as it glided effortlessly through her skin and bones. "But you didn't hit me hard enough!" Alya screamed, coming back to life in a flash and pulling hard on the disk. Marinette was tossed helplessly and fell to the floor in a floppy heap, weeping quietly and apologizing to her friend, who still had a large hole in her chest.

Adrien stopped dead, his eyes widening; he couldn't be sure what Marinette was seeing, but it seemed to completely different from his view. She kept muttering how sorry she was, how big the hole was, but, honestly, he didn't see any sort of injury on her. There had been a soft thwump as the disk bounced off her chest and fell straight down. Alya hadn't been injured in the least. "M'Lady!" he called, rushing over to her after a second. "M'lady, you didn't hurt her. She's fine. She's totally fine." Marinette glared up at him, tears slipping down her cream colored cheeks. "Don't lie to me! I saw what I did!"

"Hawkmoth is tricking us, Ladybug! It's like Vulpina, tricks, all tricks!" And Cat pulled her to her feet, holding her up as she wobbled a bit. "Stay with me, m'lady. I need you." he breathed, pulling her close to his chest.

"You…..need me?"

"Yes. I need you here with me, and I need you to see that all this is a trick. You're scared right now, and so am I, but I've got you. I need you to have me too. We have to see through this trick, and we've gotta find the akuma. Keep it together Marinette. Keep it together. I won't let anything hurt you." he said softly in her ear, still hugging her tightly.

"Adrien..."

"We can get fuzzy later on. Let's get this over with, okay. Together."

"Mhm!"

Marinette dodged around Lady Wifi and planned to plow headlong through the Evillistrator, but instead hit his chest and bounced back. "Adrien, they….they're solid!"


	6. Chapter 6

Cat bit his lip thoughtfully, dodging Rogercop as he swung from the side. "Bug-a-Boo, go on ahead. I'll deal with these guys." he said after a moment of silence.

"Are you kidding?! No, we're doing this together." Marinette cried, tumbling over herself as she dodged one hit and stepped directly into another.

"Go." Adrien said firmly "Look, they aren't using their powers. Whoever is doing this isn't strong enough to make them use 'em. They're just taking the forms. Go ahead. I'm fine."

Marinette whimpered quietly, but nodded with a surge of strength. "Be careful Cat." she called over her shoulder as she took off towards the observatory. She sucked in a mouthful of air and closed her eyes against the cold wind before diving from a rooftop to the street and sprinting up it. If she could hurry, if she could finish this quickly, no one else had to get hurt. Her heart calmed at the thought. "Yeah. I'm a superhero now, I just have to focus and get this done." as she thought that, however, her miraculous beeped loudly. "Noooo. Can't you hold out a bit Tiki?" in response her earrings gave a tired sounding squawk. "If I'm not going to go straight away, I have to grab Cat. He's all alone back there." she skidded to a stop and turned around, yelping as a huge pile of rubble crashed from the top of a department store directly in front of her. "No. NO! CAT?!" She howled, pulling rocks from the pile. Even in her panicked state, she knew she couldn't even make a dent in this massive mountain of concrete and steel. "CAT?!"

"'M okay. Don't worry." Adrien called back as her miraculous pinged more urgently. "They got separated from me too. I've got a few minutes before they're back. Gotta refuel and get back to it. You do the same, but keep heading towards the observatory. Do not stop no matter what."

"Okay...Okay. I will." Marinette called, taking off back down the street.

She found a meal for Tiki quickly and made it to the building in record time, flinging the doors open and sliding inside. "Mom? Dad?"

"Hello Ladybug." the voice was smooth and smug, and undoubtedly belonged to Hawkmoth. "Where is Cat Noir?" he drawled, stepping out of the shadows.

"He's back cleaning up your mess Hawkmoth!"

"You...left him behind?" The look of rage on his face was in way his normally controlled scowl; he was legitimately angry. "My god, what a partner you are." he spat sardonically, drawing himself to his full height. "Well, I made no mistake taking your parents."

"Where are they?"

"They're about, I'm sure."

"Are they safe?"

"No." he answered coldly and simply.

"Where are they!?"

A smirk. "The roof. I'd hurry if I were you."


End file.
